Gu Rong looked at the pitch-black metal construct before him, the terror in his heart rising to its peak.
What exactly was this thing?
But the Apollo Puppet gave him no chance to catch his breath. It raised its left hand, condensed a piece of Void Mysterious Ice, crouched down, and pressed it directly toward his chest.
Gu Rong's pupils contracted sharply, and a terrible feeling welled up inside him.
He had a vague sense that once that thing drew near, he would never be the same again.
But severely injured as he was, he had no way to escape.
The Void Mysterious Ice had already entered his chest.
The next instant, a violent yet gentle force exploded within him.
All his attributes tripled. His broken bones reconnected, flesh regrew, internal organs repaired themselves, and his depleted Soul Power surged back into every limb and bone like spring water. Even the old hidden injuries accumulated over the years were wiped away.
Gu Rong braced himself against the ice and slowly stood up. Looking down at his own palm, his face was filled with shock.
What exactly was this thing?
Such terrifying healing and enhancement effects were practically mocking the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda and Nine Star Begonia's titles of "the world's number one support Martial Soul" and "the world's number one healing Martial Soul."
But the next second, excruciating pain seized his consciousness.
Dense darkness surged up from the depths of his body and flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.
That power carried an intensely corrosive nature, gnawing away at his sanity inch by inch.
Gu Rong screamed, clutched his head, and fell to his knees. He repeatedly smashed his forehead against the ice, trying to lessen the agony in his soul.
But it was useless.
Darkness completely swallowed him, and his screams abruptly stopped.
A moment later, Gu Rong slowly rose to his feet, scarlet light glowing in his eyes.
He walked before the Apollo Puppet and dropped to one knee.
"Greetings, Master."
But the Apollo Puppet did not respond.
The two puppets both froze in place, their movements stiff and sluggish.
After a while, the scarlet eyes suddenly turned golden, blazing with light.
Beiming Lieyang's somewhat displeased voice came through. "Tsk, that really fits your character."
He had originally been enjoying Mother Xue's gentle feeding in the Ice Crystal Palace.
But an abnormal signal had suddenly come from the Apollo Puppet. He sent a thread of his consciousness over and witnessed this scene.
Bone Douluo Gu Rong had been beaten to the ground and was now firmly controlled by Void Mysterious Ice.
After checking the Apollo Puppet's memories, Beiming Lieyang frowned slightly.
So this old man had followed them all the way to the outskirts of the Far North. When he saw the Apollo Puppet flying through the sky, he mistook it for some rare offensive Soul Tool and tried to snatch it.
The Apollo Puppet had not been polite. A weakened Coronal Light struck him half-dead, then controlled him on the spot.
Beiming Lieyang understood.
In the original story, Ning Rongrong received an Immortal Herb from Tang San, and her Martial Soul evolved into the legendary Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda.
Not only did she level up repeatedly and improve her aptitude, but most importantly, she broke the curse that prevented her from advancing beyond Soul Douluo.
Tang San had even given Ning Rongrong hidden weapons.
However, because the talent displayed by the other party was far too astonishing, Bone Douluo's initial attempt at recruitment had failed, and he had instead developed a murderous intent.
It could truly be called repaying great kindness with great hatred.
Those geniuses unwilling to submit to him had probably long since been secretly eliminated.
Whether it was the Upper Three Sects or the sect forces across the entire Douluo Continent, none of their methods were particularly clean.
But this time, he had kicked an iron mountain.
The Apollo Puppet would not waste time arguing with him.
"You will return to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect first. Keep doing what you used to do and wait for my summons."
Gu Rong lowered his head. "Yes, Master."
He slowly retreated several steps, turned into a streak of light, and swept toward the outskirts of the Far North, disappearing into the snowstorm in an instant.
"Continue carrying out your mission."
After Beiming Lieyang said that, the golden light in the Apollo Puppet's eyes slowly dimmed and returned to scarlet.
"Yes, Master."
Amid a burst of clanging metal, the Apollo Puppet folded back into its planetary form and flew into the distance.
Inside the Ice Crystal Palace, Snow Empress was still holding a piece of meat in her palm and bringing it to Beiming Lieyang's lips. Her eyes held a questioning look. "What is it? What happened?"
Beiming Lieyang came back to himself, opened his mouth to bite off the meat, and spoke as he chewed.
"Mother Xue, someone was watching us when we were in Heaven Dou City. After we left, someone followed us all the way to the outskirts of the Far North."
Snow Empress's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, and her expression turned cold. "Who? Who dared trespass into the Far North?"
"Someone from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect..."
Beiming Lieyang briefly explained the ways of the sect forces on the Douluo Continent.
After Snow Empress heard him out, the chill between her brows deepened.
"Human forces truly have no shame."
"We may also live by the law of the strong devouring the weak, but at least we do not specifically target young ones. Sometimes, humans are worse than Soul Beasts."
Snow Empress had long despised humans.
Greedy, vicious, endlessly exploitative—there was nothing they would not do for Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones.
Only because the Far North's environment was so harsh and ordinary Soul Masters could not enter did it avoid being turned upside down like the other Soul Beast forests.
But as soon as she finished speaking, she realized she had generalized too broadly. She raised a hand, drew Beiming Lieyang into her arms, and softened her tone.
"Of course, my Xiaoyang is different. You are thousands, no, tens of thousands of times better than those people."
Beiming Lieyang leaned against Snow Empress's embrace, his cheek pressed to her smooth, lovely face. Breathing in her cool, delicate fragrance, his whole body relaxed.
Bone Douluo, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—let them all get lost.
None of them mattered more than Mother Xue's embrace.
"You child..."
Seeing that he did not want to talk about those matters anymore, Snow Empress did not press him. She merely hugged him a little tighter and gently stroked his hair.
"You've been tired all day. Rest well. Mother Xue is here with you."
Beiming Lieyang's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Leaning against that tenderness meant for him alone, he slowly closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, while Beiming Lieyang was enjoying the tenderness of the Far North's foremost empress, Yu Xiaogang, who had been abducted by Split-Faced Scarface, was having a miserable time.
After Split-Faced Scarface captured him, he had not stopped for three straight days.
"Will you talk or not?! Will you talk or not?!"
"Stop it, all of you!!"
"What do you mean, will I talk or not??!"
"Oh-ho-ho, I, Yu Xiaogang, swear here that I will destroy your Rose Boy Band at any cost!"
Split-Faced Scarface looked at Yu Xiaogang with even greater obsession in his eyes.
"Just as expected of the rose that made Boss fall for him. You really have spirit! Even your voice is so captivating. This virtue of refusing to betray your friends even in the face of death truly earns my admiration."
"Brothers, put your backs into it! Offer our rose our purest respects!!!"
"Make him tell us everything!!"
"Haha, Boss, we're working hard."
Beside them, there was also a burly bearded man holding Luo Sanpao, who was rolling his eyes and making "luo luo" noises.
He was crazily delivering every ounce of his purest emotional impact to Yu Xiaogang.
"Boss, the branding iron is red-hot. We can give our rose his exclusive mark and offer him the Rose Boy Band's purest respect."
At that moment, a slightly thinner Rose Boy Band member pulled a red-hot hollow heart-shaped branding iron from the brazier, his face solemn and sacred.
If not for the chaotic scene before them,
one might have thought they were about to carry out something incomparably holy.
"Good, good. Come on, give our rose his exclusive mark."
Split-Faced Scarface immediately wrapped his two thick arms tightly around Yu Xiaogang's neck from behind.
His legs twisted around him as well, forcing Yu Xiaogang's flabby belly to protrude.
"Yes, Boss!"
"No, no, don't!" Yu Xiaogang looked at the red-hot hollow heart-shaped branding iron. The surrounding air was warped by its scorching heat, and tears streamed down his face.
"Don't! I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want a black heart mark."
"You bastards!!"
"You pinned me down for three days and only kept asking whether I'd talk or not. Ask me something already!"
Seeing the branding iron approaching his stomach, Yu Xiaogang's eyes turned bloodshot. Panting like a bull, he screamed hysterically.
After these bastards captured him, they had spent three straight days asking whether he would talk, whether he would talk, whether he would talk!
Damn it, ask me something already?!
However, although he had said it aloud, the Rose Boy Band member's hand moved extremely quickly.
Sizzle!
In an instant,
the mark had already been branded onto Yu Xiaogang's stomach.
"AAAAAHHH!"
"You animals!! You animals!!"
"I, Yu Xiaogang, swear that I will destroy your Rose Boy Band at any cost!!"
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